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GAO Looks Into Agencies’ Compliance With OMB’s Cloud Procurement Requirements
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GAO Looks Into Agencies’ Compliance With OMB’s Cloud Procurement Requirements

The Government Accountability Office said most of the 24 major federal agencies have yet to establish guidance on service-level agreements, or SLAs, with cloud providers.  

A review of the compliance with the Office of Management and Budget’s five key cloud procurement requirements also found that one-third of the agencies did not have guidance to ensure continuous visibility in systems that process high-value information or serve a critical function in maintaining the security of the civilian enterprise, according to a GAO report released on Friday.

The OMB established the procurement requirements in 2019 under its Cloud Smart Strategy as agencies shift their IT services to cloud services.

Agency officials said guidance had not been developed because they had used SLAs provided by the cloud service providers, relied on standard acquisition practices and included the procurement requirement in their contracts, among other reasons.

GAO said the CIO Council could collect and share examples of guidance on cloud SLAs and contract language from agencies that have met the OMB requirements to help other organizations improve cloud service procurement activities.

The government watchdog also made 46 recommendations to 18 agencies, including the Departments of Agriculture and Commerce, to develop or update guidance related to OMB’s Cloud Smart procurement requirements.

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17 Small Businesses Receive Semiconductor Grants From White House
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17 Small Businesses Receive Semiconductor Grants From White House

The White House, through the Small Business Innovation Research program, has selected 17 small businesses from nine states that will receive almost $5 million in total funding for research projects meant to further develop the semiconductor industry.

The Department of Commerce said Thursday the grants, the first award for the CHIPS Research and Development Office, are intended for researching concepts and developing products or services that will benefit the commercial microelectronics marketplace.

The grants also align with the administration’s efforts to provide small businesses the opportunity to succeed in their respective industries.

The CHIPS Metrology SBIR awardees are as follows:

  • Direct Electron
  • Exigent Solutions
  • HighRI Optics
  • Hummingbird Precision Machine Co. dba Hummingbird Scientific
  • Laser Thermal Analysis
  • Octave Photonics
  • Photon Spot
  • Photothermal Spectroscopy Corp.
  • PrimeNano
  • Recon RF
  • Sigray
  • Steam Instruments
  • Tech-X Corp.
  • The Provenance Chain Network
  • Tiptek
  • Vapor Cell Technologies
  • Virtual EM

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, said, “As we grow the U.S. semiconductor industry, the Biden-Harris Administration is committed to building opportunities for small businesses to prosper. With today’s awards, these 17 businesses will support CHIPS for America’s efforts to grow the U.S. semiconductor ecosystem and support our national and economic security.”

The SBIR Phase I awardees were chosen from proposals sent through a notice of funding opportunity. They will be considered for the SBIR Phase II award, which will be held in Spring 2025.

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DARPA to Work With Canada, UK on AI & Cybersecurity R&D Efforts
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DARPA to Work With Canada, UK on AI & Cybersecurity R&D Efforts

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will collaborate with Canadian and U.K. defense agencies to research, develop, test and evaluate artificial intelligence tools, cybersecurity systems and information domain-related technologies.

DARPA said Friday the collaboration seeks to reduce technological risks to accelerate the transition of new capabilities into operational use.

“The trilateral collaboration is a big step toward enhancing our understanding in the outlined R&D thrust areas. Working with our international partners on science and technology helps us all leverage each other’s individual strengths in order to develop much greater collective capability,” said Stefanie Tompkins, director of DARPA and a 2024 Wash100 awardee.

One of the projects being pursued by the trilateral partnership is the Cyber Agents for Security Testing and Learning Environments program — a.k.a. CASTLE — which seeks to train AI to autonomously defend networks against persistent cyberthreats.

The collaboration is also developing trustworthy AI tools and advancing rapid software certification, among other research and development areas.

Under the trilateral partnership, the Defence Research and Development Canada and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory will respectively serve as the lead agencies for Canada and the U.K.

Register now to attend the Potomac Officers Club’s GovCon International Summit on Oct. 10. Speakers will discuss how international partnerships, emerging technologies and coalition warfare are reshaping the defense landscape and how the U.S. can stay ahead of the curve.

POC - GovCon International Summit
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NOAA Awards 4 R&D Contracts for Cloud Information Processing System
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NOAA Awards 4 R&D Contracts for Cloud Information Processing System

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has granted contracts valued a total of $5.4 million to four companies for research and development of an enterprise information processing system for the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service’s Common Cloud Framework. 

The contracts call for the delivery and demonstration of working models using application programming interfaces to enable NCCF to process the vast inquiries that NOAA receives and accommodates, NESDIS said Thursday.

A report released by the Department of Commerce’s Office of the Solicitor General in August observed that the NCCF’s current cloud platform lacks security support and puts critical data at risk.

In May, NOAA issued a broad agency announcement to solicit industry proposals that can improve environmental intelligence for the NCCF. 

Two of the awardees—Element 84 and Orion Space Solutions—won a two-year contract each valued at about $1.2 million and $2 million, respectively.   

Booz Allen Hamilton, another awardee, secured a one-year contract for approximately $1.1 million. The fourth contractor, Noblis, won a 15-month contract worth about $1.2 million. NOAA selected the contractors in a competitive BAA solicitation that drew 27 proposals.

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SDA Solicits Proposals to Prototype Network Orchestrating System
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SDA Solicits Proposals to Prototype Network Orchestrating System

The Space Development Agency is soliciting proposals to study, model and simulate a network orchestrating system capable of supporting data transport.

The desired solution would facilitate information exchange among the government-owned Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture—or PWSA—commercial satellite networks and other space-based data transport networks, the SDA said Friday in a request for proposals.

The PWSA is a low Earth space architecture designed to provide U.S. warfighters with a resilient, military sensing and data transport capability, according to the notice.

SDA is seeking comprehensive studies and software prototyping to better understand how network orchestration capability would benefit government space initiatives, such as the PWSA program. The agency noted that it prefers prototypes that could be readily transitioned into operational capabilities.

Selected partners are also expected to perform engineering studies, analyses, technical trades and simulations of the required capabilities.

Notably, the government would prioritize proposals that could bundle all the requirements in a common simulation environment for a final capstone demonstration.

Interested parties are invited to submit their proposals no later than Oct. 21.

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Pam Melroy on NASA’s New Space Sustainability Division
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Pam Melroy on NASA’s New Space Sustainability Division

NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy announced the establishment of a new space sustainability division that will consolidate the agency’s orbital debris-related activities, SpaceNews reported Saturday.

At a conference held Thursday, the previous Wash100 awardee stated that the space agency received the needed congressional approvals to form the division, which she said will serve as a “unified organization that will integrate our operational, research and policy functions.”

The newly established division will be led by former astronaut Alvin Drew and operate as part of the Space Operations Mission Directorate, which includes the International Space Station.

“If you have an operational mission, having it under operational control is really helpful,” Melroy said. “That’s the day-to-day urgent mission. We’re keeping astronauts and our spacecraft safe.”

According to the deputy administrator, the division will have access to approximately $40 million in funding spread across the agency.

In July, Melroy offered an update on NASA’s implementation of the Space Sustainability Strategy, which the agency introduced in April.

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Thomas Flagg Named Education Department CIO
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Thomas Flagg Named Education Department CIO

Thomas Flagg, a more than two-decade information technology planning and program management professional, has been appointed chief information officer of the Department of Education, effective Oct. 6.

DOE said Friday Flagg succeeds Luis Lopez, who has served as the department’s CIO since December 2022.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten said Flagg’s extensive business and IT experience and track record in pushing innovation will be key as the department continues to advance its mission and improve digital capabilities.

“Mr. Flagg’s leadership will be instrumental in guiding our agency through the complexities of today’s technological landscape, ensuring that we deliver the highest level of service to our nation’s schools, colleges and universities, students, borrowers, and families,” added Marten.

The newly appointed CIO currently serves as director of the Department of Labor’s business application services directorate, where he oversees a team of approximately 120 federal and 600 contract personnel in developing and delivering apps to the department’s 26 subcomponent agencies and the public.

He previously served as head of IT for DOL’s wage and hour division and technical and management adviser to the director of IT within the department’s Office of Workers Compensation Programs.

Flagg held IT-related positions at several companies, including Recorded Books, Health Objects, ZonaFinanciera.com, GTE and Intel.

Materials Discovery Research Center to Open at Ames National Laboratory
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Materials Discovery Research Center to Open at Ames National Laboratory

The Department of Energy’s Ames National Laboratory has announced it will establish the ML-Accelerated Materials Discovery Center for research focused on identifying and designing new magnetic and superconducting components for energy applications.

The center will build upon the computer codes the laboratory’s researchers have developed and indicated effective and rapid structure search methods through artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, Ames said Thursday.

The new center will tap exascale computers at other national laboratories to find the right materials from the large and complex list of potential choices, the Iowa State University-operated laboratory added.

To harness the various processors and hardware of the exascale computers, reputed as among the most powerful in the world, the center will use software from the Exascale Computing Project, a joint effort of the Energy Department’s Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration.

The Los Alamos National Laboratory will collaborate with Ames on the center, which will draw funding from the Energy Department’s Office of Science.

In the private sector, SandboxAQ is using AI to discover and develop new compounds and chemistries that could be combined to produce new materials for potential use by the U.S. Army and other defense and government customers, Jen Sovada, the company’s president of global public sector and a 2024 Wash100 awardee, told Federal News Network recently.

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Mark Lee on Efforts of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service to Improve Procurement Acquisition Lead Time
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Mark Lee on Efforts of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service to Improve Procurement Acquisition Lead Time

The General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service is working to streamline the government procurement process through several efforts, including reducing the procurement acquisition lead time, or PALT, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

Mark Lee, assistant commissioner for the Office of Policy and Compliance at FAS, told FNN in an interview how the Commercial Platforms program is helping GSA improve PALT.

“One is our recent award of the Commercial Platforms program, which is like the second generation of the program. Basically this streamlines for purchase card holders the buying process to access commercial online marketplaces,” Lee said. “So we’ve pre-negotiated agreements across the federal government with eight commercial marketplaces, and we’ve seen significant time savings for our customers.”

He cited the use of oral presentations and how it helps GSA facilitate the source selection process as part of its PALT improvement efforts.

“A lot of times we’re using oral and video presentations to do technical evaluation. So rather than get a 200 page volume of technical material for a source selection panel to read through — it’s voluminous — we invite people to come in and they do about typically a 90 minute presentation,” Lee commented. “We’ve seen the use of oral video presentations have dramatically streamlined the source selection process. We needed a better experience for industry partners and this helped us streamline getting to contract award.”

The GSA official also discussed FAS’ efforts to update GSA Advantage, particularly the FAS catalog platform, and initiatives to improve the user experience.

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Military Officials Discuss Space Warfare at Recent AFA Event
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Military Officials Discuss Space Warfare at Recent AFA Event

Rear Adm. Heidi Berg, the deputy commander of Fleet Cyber Command, recently underscored the need to provide credible counterspace capabilities as a deterrence to China and Russia, which are developing counterspace technologies themselves.

Berg, who also serves as deputy commander of the Navy Space Command, made the remark on Monday at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference, where she attended as part of a panel featuring U.S. Space Force and U.S. Navy leaders who discussed the increasing importance of space operations, according to the USSF on Wednesday.

In Berg’s opinion, space warfare is currently in the same state cyber warfare was in 10 years ago, and integrating space into military operations should be guided by lessons learned from how cyber was integrated into operations.

Also part of the panel was Air Marshal Paul Godfrey, assistant chief of space operations for future concepts and partnerships, who underscored the need for a responsible manner of conducting space operations.

The Space Force official advocated for “reversible effects” that would prevent the proliferation of debris in orbit.

“I think collectively, we all need to [have] policy discussions,” Godfrey said.

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